Somali militants planning attacks disguised as peacekeepers: AU force

NAIROBI (Reuters) - African peacekeepers said on Wednesday they had information that al Qaeda-linked militants were planning to launch attacks in Somalia disguised in their uniforms.

Islamist fighters from Somalia's al Shabaab group had taken some uniforms from camps run by the African Union AMISOM force, officers said.

"AMISOM has information that due to panic Al-Shabaab have plans to masquerade as AMISOM and dress in AMISOM troop's uniforms," the force said on its Twitter account.

"These uniforms were accessed from AMISOM camps in the past and disguised as such, AS (al Shabaab) are organizing to carry out atrocities," it added.

Kenyan soldiers serving with AMISOM suffered heavy losses when al Shabaab launched a dawn raid on their camp in the southern Somali town of El Adde on Jan. 15.

The militants said they killed more than 100 soldiers at the base near Somalia's border with Kenya, though Nairobi has not released an official death count.

Al Shabaab has in the past year staged multiple strikes against African Union bases in Somalia, part of a guerrilla campaign to expel foreign troops and impose its harsh version of Islamic law across the Horn of Africa nation.